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EmmaMaree.com

Scottish Writer of Fantasy & Sci-Fi

Back On Track

whatsupwednesdaybiplane

 Welcome to another What’s Up Wednesday post, where I answer a few questions about my daily life and writing work.

What I’m Reading

I’ve been chatty on Twitter recently about my read through of GIRL OF NIGHTMARES. I’ve been loving it, though there’s been a few talking points:


I am really enjoying this book, flaws ‘n all.

Last week was payday, aka ‘book buying day’, so I picked up a few exciting new reads as well:

“Shadows” by Paula Weston: An angel YA novel that reviewers assure me is equally as good as “Angelfall”. I’m sold.

“The Dream Thieves” by Maggie Stiefvater: The sequel to The Raven Boys”. Really excited about this, Maggie has a way of forming a real connection between the readers and her characters.

“Fangirl” by  Rainbow Rowell: This’ll be my first Rainbow Rowell book. The subject matter (being a fan, being part of a fandom) is very close to my heart, so I can’t wait.

What I’m Writing

I’m still working away on LEVIATHAN RISES. Putting this project away in July has worked wonders — now that I’m back to work on it this September, I’m coming up with all sorts of unexpected ideas to pull the plot together. Right now I’m knee-deep in research about Old Testament Leviathan and Behemoth myths, and the words are flowing at a satisfying rate.

Thanks to everyone who voted in the title poll last What’s Up Wednesday. A few of you liked THE SEA BENEATH, which pleases me because it seems to ‘fit’ well next to DIVIDE THE SKY.

But there was also some love for the LEVIATHAN RISES title. The problem with that is that it’s very similar to sci-fi novel LEVIATHAN WAKES, so I’m pondering if that’ll be a problem. There’s always the potential to change it to THE LEVIATHAN RISE or THE LEVIATHAN RISES… I’ve added those options to the poll.

[poll id=”5″]

 

What Else I’ve Been Up To

You miiiight have noticed I had a bad week last week. A bad month, really, thanks to the unending flu-like lurgy that’s hounded me for two months solid.

In the draft of this post, I said “things are looking up”. That was a mistake. I think I jinxed it.

At this point I’m just eager for September to be over.

tiredcollapse

When I’m not reading, writing or doing housework (those rare, shining silver slivers of ‘free’ time) I’m playing Kingdom Hearts 1.5, a really nice HD remake of the first Kingdom Hearts game. It’s lots of nostalgic fun.

I’m also trying out BookLikes, a Goodreads alternative. So far I’m diggin’ it’s Tumblr-inspired interface and it seems to have all the features I need. If you’re on it, add me–I’d love to follow some more familiar faces!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Roan says

    Hi Emma,

    The moment I read you had also started to research Behemoth somewhere in the back of my head a little voice started whispering: `Two? Weren´t there three?`. So I started thinking and I remembered there had to be some kind of air elemental too, a Zil or something. Did some Googling, turns out its Ziz: Among the Gnostics.

    Behemoth and leviathan form in the Gnostic system of the Ophites and others two of the seven circles or stations which the soul has to pass in order to be purged and to attain bliss (Hippolytus, “Adversus Omnes Hæreses,” v. 21; Origen, “Contra Celsum,” vi. 25). As if the meat of the “wild ox” behemoth and the fish leviathan were not deemed sufficient for the great banquet of the righteous in the future, a fowl was added, i.e., the “ziz” (A. V. “the wild beasts” of the field), mentioned in Ps. 1. 11 after the account of the behemoth in verse 10, and understood by the Rabbis to signify a gigantic bird (B. B. 73b). Thus the Apocalypse of Simeon b. Yoḥai (Jellinek, “B. H.” iii. 76) has the three animals, the monster ox behemoth, the fish leviathan, and the gigantic bird ziz, prepared for the great banquet.

    source: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9841-leviathan-and-behemoth

    I hope this might prove useful to you, although there´s a fair chance you had already found out about Ziz. ;)

    • EMaree says

      Hi Roan, thank you so much for this! I’ve got a version of Ziz in my story, but they’re not a key palyer as much as the Leviathan and Behemoth are.

      I’m off to read that Encyclopedia, it looks like it has some exciting new information about Ziz for me. :)

  2. Colin says

    Just to throw in a couple of cents about “Behemoth” and “Leviathan,” speculation is, as you can see, rife as to what these creatures are. “Behemoth” gets one mention in the Old Testament, in Job 40:15. Etymologically speaking, the noun is actually a plural form of the Hebrew behemah, which can simply refer to a wild animal–and interestingly, the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament–translates “Behemoth” this way (i.e., “wild animals”), as opposed to transliterating “Behemoth” in Job 40:15. The context, however, suggests that the noun is to be understood as singular (note the use of the singular verb: “he eats”). The plural form, therefore, probably indicates a particularly large creature that “eats grass like an ox.” Job 40:16-24 go on to describe this powerful beast in such a way that some suggest it could be anything from a hippopotamus to a crocodile–or even a creature that is now long-extinct.

    Leviathan gets a few more mentions in the Old Testament. He’s in the passage immediately following the Behemoth passage (Job 41). He also gets a mention in Job 3:8 as part of Job’s lament, and also in Psalm 74:14, and Psalm 104:26, where he is mentioned first as a sign of God’s power, that He can crush the head of this creature, and then as one of the sea creatures that God created. The final mention of Leviathan is in Isaiah 27, where his punishment and destruction are one of the signs given of God’s judgment of the earth and the deliverance of His people. Again, the descriptions of Leviathan indicate that it is a sea creature, but exactly what sea creature–a whale, a crocodile, or some other now-extinct creature–is not clear. It’s possible that Leviathan is symbolic, and some have even linked it to mythical creatures. I would note, though, that the Biblical writers speak of both Leviathan and Behemoth as creatures they understood to be real, and there isn’t any historical or other basis that I’m aware of to doubt that these were actual creatures. It’s plain arrogance, IMO, to think that because *we* don’t know what they are, these ancient people must have been drawing upon myths and legends.

    Nevertheless, for the writers of speculative fiction (like the Gnostics :) ), this ambiguity leaves an open playing field for stories.

    Have fun with that, Emma! :D

    • EMaree says

      Colin, I am SO SORRY it’s taken me this long to acknowledge this awesome comment. Things got ahead of me, but I am so grateful you took the time to talk about this!

      “It’s plain arrogance, IMO, to think that because *we* don’t know what they are, these ancient people must have been drawing upon myths and legends.”

      Such a perfect way of putting it. :)

      I’m happy to see that your views of Leviathan fit in line with the mythology of my story so far.

  3. Kris Atkins says

    So, at first I wanted to vote for Leviathan Rises, but ended up with The Sea Beneath because my thought is, “beneath what??” and, BAM!, I’m already intrigued. Titles are hard! Good luck!